1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a walking-support robot that supports a user with walking and a walking support method.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, developed countries have faced a low birth rate and an aging population. Thus, the need for watching and living support for the elderly has been increasing. In particular, elderly people tend to be difficult to maintain QOL (Quality of Life) of in-home life due to deterioration of physical ability accompanying aging. It is important to maintain the muscle mass by continuing exercise more than a certain amount in order to prevent, for example, sarcopenia of the elderly and maintain the physical abilities. However, it is difficult for the elderly who have difficulty to go out due to a decline in physical ability and, thus, tend to retreat into their homes to maintain a certain amount of exercise. Therefore, they fall into a vicious circle of increased muscle mass loss. Recently, in light of this background, a walking-support robot that guides a user such as an elderly person to a destination has been developed.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2010-271911 describes a guiding mobile robot that calculates a moving speed on the basis of an input from a user and guides the user to a destination while standing aside the user.